Eggplant splitting problems

by Brad
(Gold Coast, Queensland, Austraila)

We are having trouble with our eggplant. They seem to get a hard skin on the bottom of the eggplant that starts from when the fruit is still small. As the eggplant grows they split, even though they are only about the size of a tennis ball or smaller. Help? What is causing this? Is it a disease? Or maybe the growing conditions? We live in a sub-tropical region of Australia. Lately the weather has been quite humid with heavy storms... wondering if over watering could be a problem???

Comments for Eggplant splitting problems

One idea of mine is that you may have one of the small Thai eggplant varieties, or some genetic eggplant variation that has crept in to your garden! You will know if so, because you will know where you got your seeds or plants from.

If you don't pick the Thai eggplants when ripe, and they are more golf ball size than tennis, then the seeds inside the fruit swell and your eggplants split.

Blossom end rot (caused by uneven watering) could be another reason, although the end is more soft than hard.

Otherwise blame it on the weather. Eggplants love your sort of heat, but are not so keen on high humidity. They can be successful in humid climate, but they definitely need to be well drained.

Oct 30, 2013

Eggplants splittingby: Garden Rabbit

I have this same problem (near Noosa Qld) and it is with Listada de Gandia. It is a young plant that went in this winter, now it is starting to get plenty of fruit forming, they all get white and hard on the bottom and split, even when very young. I thought maybe it is a watering problem like the splitting you can get in tomatoes and sometimes citrus. Going to stop watering it so much and see... otherwise will pull it out and stick with the Labanese Mini Eggplant which looks like a long purple zucchini coz having loads of success with that one.

Jan 09, 2014

Updateby: Garden Rabbit

My Long Lebanese eggplants also developed the crusting on the ends. I discovered that when watering them, the soil was not wetting properly and remained dry even though I thought I was watering them well. I added a wetting agent and gypsum and now it is powering away with lots of new healthy eggplants again.
But I now find I have blossom end rot in the Roma Tomatoes growing where the troublesome Listada variety of eggplants had previously been. So I suspect that the whole problem was connected and have now decided to add calcium/minerals to the soil and see what eventuates. I had already added it to the Lebanese ones by way of Gypsum as our soil is PH neutral.

Nov 20, 2015

Same problem in Ecuadorby: Carl

The same thing is happening to me on 2 different varieties here in Ecuador. High in the mountains, hot, not too much rain so watering a bit. Seems lots of people have this problem, but no one is really telling us what the cause is or how to stop it. Help.
carl

Nov 20, 2015

Egg Plant Woesby: Garden Rabbit

Hi Carl in Ecuador! I gave up growing Eggplants in any form of raised vegetable tank gardens and now only grow the long thin purple Lebanese Eggplants in the ground. I have a plant in between 2 fruit trees and have built up the soil with rock minerals, gypsum, a thin layer of grass clippings with horse manure over the top, which also acts as a mulch. When it rots down/disappears (approx 6 monthly) I again apply another layer of the aboveitems. This seems to hold the moisture in and they don't require much watering except in dry times when I do them weekly. I am getting an abundant crop of healthy purple unblemished eggplants now.